Native Mobile Advertising On The Rise; How To Make Programmatic Adaptable

Ad companies are increasingly focusing their efforts on native advertising for mobile, as users spend more time on tablets and smartphones and less on desktops. The WSJ reports that overreliance on banner ads have hindered marketers from mobile ads in the past, but native breaks the road block. Said Jim Payne, VP of Twitter’s ad exchange, “We’ve learned that not only are native ads a significant improvement for publisher monetization in general, but that users engage with these ad formats at a higher rate than the desktop-era banners and interstitials that are so prevalent today in mobile.” Read on.

Humanizing Programmatic

Writing for AdAge, CEO of Qvidian Lewis Miller says the human element of marketing automation is what allows organizations to be contextual and adaptable in order to execute sales. “If marketing automation is the first step, technology should also equip sales representatives with the insight and logic. … B-to-b buyers are buying from people, not processes or technology. It takes a human element to interpret the data to optimize the process and experience for the specific buyer – otherwise you're just automating bad practices.” More.

Atlas Makeover

In the year since Atlas joined Facebook, the company has partnered with Innovid, Flite and Microsoft Advertising, and has ramped up product development. Now it has a new look, including a website refresh and new logo. A blog post alludes to bigger plans. See it.

Wearable Marketing

Wearable tech will change marketing, first through the data and then through the formats. “The big opportunity for marketers really lies in the data area,” IAB Australia’s Alice Manners says in a CMO story. “What wearables provide us is a much more granular understanding of user behaviour, and that is going to change the way in which mobile marketing happens.” While visual ads may need to take a simpler format, audio opportunities could expand marketer reach. Read more.

Global Mobile RTB Report

Real-time buying (RTB) in mobile is growing on a global scale. New data from Smaato suggests entertainment and tech verticals will grab the majority of ad spend. Read the report. Or the press release.

Data At MDC Partners

MDC Partners’ launch of creative agency Assembly in March (AdExchanger story) was part of the holding company’s push to leverage technology and data to drive better performance for clients’ media. “This is further illustrated in our programmatic capability at Varick Media Management and our emerging local search platform LBN,” the company said. Earnings release.

Piqora’s Long Game

Piqora raised $7.7 million, bringing its total funding to $11 million. The analytics company’s “Instagram Conversation Manager” lets brands engage Instagram users outside of the mobile app. It will use the funds to add more image recognition specialists to its team, build deeper visual analytics and expand its content-management and CRM capabilities to other networks. Read the press release.